I fished with a group of four this morning for a half day trip. They were fortunate to have the rain all done by the time we hit the water at 7:00 and looked forward to fishing. I don’t think they were ready for what was going to happen next and never imagined it could be this good. I told them they were going to be in a rotation as I was only going to put two rods out at a time. Although confused a bit, they understood! I had explained that more rods would be an issue as the fish would be coming in hand over fist when I found them. It took me only about 5 minutes or so until I located what I was looking for and dropped the anchor. Amazingly I was able to get both lines in the water this time, but thirty eight seconds after, the first one got bit. Chaos was about to begin as I demonstrated how to reel & set with these fish. Fish on! While battling the first one, the second rod got hit as well and now it was their turn. Let the rotation games begin! From this point on, I was on worm detail, baiting and casting nonstop for the remainder of the day. The sturgeon may not have been the real giants that I target in the summer months, but despite their size they fight like champs. Even the catfish put up a great battle when hooked on the right tackle. Several times throughout the morning the sonar went void of fish forcing me to move and find them again. Each time it was the same, plenty of hook ups and fish coming in every couple of minutes. Although the day started out cloudy and quite comfortable, eventually the humidity and sun had me raising the bimini top for the comfort of shade. Throughout all of this, the fishing remained constant. Fish after fish every few minutes and the rotation went fast.  Nobody seemed to have a clue as to how many fish were landed but they all knew it was great. Each person was well into the double digits by the time we called it, shortly after noon. Ilan, Meir, Dov & Benny had just experienced an amazing day of fishing that I’m sure none of them would forget anytime soon. They all left on a high and were already talking about a return trip very soon. I just hope they can get back for the giant sturgeon this summer and see what the real tankers feel like. I know I can’t wait to get them into some of our monsters of the deep too!!

The weather put a delay on today’s outing, causing us to lose the first three hours. Bernard (AKA Vern) joined me after the rain at 10:00, for some real rod bending action. I had mentioned the insane sturgeon & catfish fishing and he was all in for a chance to battle some big fish. I immediately went right back to where I had gotten them over the weekend and was shocked to find that they were no longer there. I covered plenty of water searching for them and had a really difficult time trying to locate anything at all. Everything was running through my mind as to why they had moved until I completely thought it through. It was at that moment that I realized what they had done and went to where I believed they were. Bingo! It was loaded and all I had to do was drop anchor and set up the rods. The first line wasn’t in the water for long before it got bit. I showed Vern what to do with an example and we were locked! I hadn’t even gotten the second rod in and finished baiting it as he fought the fish. It was from this point on that we were on constant fish and we even had a few doubles. Although I had to relocate several times to get back on the fish, I had no problem now that I figured them out. We spent the better part of the day catching all kinds of sturgeon and plenty of channel cats before pulling the plug on them. Vern was hoping to bring a few walleye home for a dinner and I wanted to get him into them before we quit. I ran to an area that was holding and dropped the lines in for a troll. In about an hour or so, we managed to land a dozen or more Walters and he took several home for the table. What had started out as a bad day turned full circle after the foul weather cleared. We were able to get out on a day with almost no boat traffic, unlike the weekend and pound on the fish all day long. To say Vern was a happy camper would be an understatement. He just had the best fishing day of his life! He not only landed hundreds of pounds of sturgeon and cats but was taking one of the best table fish home as well. Definitely a great day on the water. Hopefully there’s plenty more like this ahead!!

After yesterdays outing with Christiane for sturgeon & catfish, I just had to return again. This time I had Guillaume and a colleague of his from work. His co worker also brought his father for some unbelievable fishing. We set up in the area and I prepared the rods one at a time, getting the lines in the water as I proceeded. Well, it took a while to get the third one in because I had to keep re baiting the first and second rod with all the fish that they were catching. When I finally managed to get all the rods rigged, it seemed like I was going through a constant rotation afterwards. As soon as I would re bait the rod that landed a fish, another one would get bit. In fact at times, we had several doubles and even one triple header. This went on all morning long and we probably would have stayed even longer but the flotilla of cruisers just got too insane. Despite the lack of wind, there were waves from every direction making it next to impossible to see any hits. This place had seen loads of sturgeon and some pretty big catfish, but the one thing that was a surprise, was the striper we caught. I had heard that there were sightings of these things in the lower river but had never seen any of them above. I can’t wait to see what the future brings! With the sunshine & heat officially unbearable, I was left with no choice but to raise the roof. What a difference that thing makes! We trolled a few areas looking for pike & walleye but had a tough time getting into them as I usually had. I’m not sure if it was because of all the mayflies that had hatched recently but something was off. We did manage to get several fish but not the numbers I had become accustomed to in the past. Unfortunately only one of the three walleye landed was of legal length, and the two larger ones were returned. Eventually the other one was also released as there wouldn’t be enough for all of them to eat. In a last ditch effort. I pulled the plug on the troll and decided to try a little drop shotting. In the last hour or so, there were a few more fish caught but these were smallies and also released. By 4:00 we called it a day and ventured back to the take out. They had all caught pounds of big fish today and the heat had them spent. I too was glad to be getting off the water as the number of pleasure crafts out there was absolutely insane. The insanity carried over to the fishing as well as the sturgeon and catfish they had caught today was more than anyone had hoped for!!

After a client postponed, I figured I’d get Christiane out for the day. She hadn’t been fishing once this season and was definitely due! We didn’t get an early start and that may have been our demise as the boat traffic started earlier than anticipated. Although we were on the water shortly after 10:00, the boats were all over the place when we arrived. I wanted to try for sturgeon & catfish and headed somewhere that I hoped they would be. Once I arrived, I started marking them immediately and wasted no time getting the anchor down. About two minutes after I had the lines in, Christiane set into our very first fish. A quick battle by a small sturgeon but it did show us that they were here & eating! Another bite immediately after and this time it was a really good catfish. I now had confirmation that the two species were both here and they were active. So much so that the sturgeon were jumping all around us. We stayed as long as we could until the boat traffic just got out of hand, causing us to leave. It’s always hard to anchor when boats are blowing by you all the time! Christiane still managed to land a few sturgeon, one great catfish and an ugly American Eel. Could have done without that last one! We headed to another area and I began marking what looked like sturgeon once again but after 20 minutes, left when we couldn’t get bit. I opted for trolling after this and had to put the top up when it just became too damn hot! This was rather slow but I never went to any areas that I knew had fish. I was just covering water searching for other areas to keep for clients. We managed to land one walleye slightly below the high end of the legal limit and into the livewell it went. The cat would be eating well tonight as we were having burgers on the bar b. She definitely eats better than most animals when it comes to fresh fish! With the heat getting almost unbearable and the boat traffic already there, we both decided to call it a day. Four hours on the lake was about all we could take with the lake packed with every type of boat. I was glad to see when we got back to the ramp that nobody else was there and pulled out immediately. Although a short day for me, it was still a very productive one. I had found the sturgeon and catfish that I wanted and could now add it to the other species I already had. My customers will definitely have their choice of fish to choose from the next time out. Hopefully many more grand slams will be coming their way soon!!

Stephan joined me today for a little bit of everything! We began the day targeting walleye and managed to scratch up a limit, with several others too. The reels weren’t firing well so I had to hammer down again, just to lock them up. This 68 degree water temp needs to climb in order for the fish to become more active. Hopefully a warm trend with no more north winds will cure that! Along with the walleye this morning, we also had plenty of encounters with decent sized northerns. I worked hard at trying to get him into some large eyes but couldn’t seem to find anything over 22 inches. Some days are just like that, I guess! We mixed it up a little in the afternoon by heading into heavy cover, in search of a few green bass. Ever since I brought him into the jungle a few years back, he’s always wanted to go back. Well, today he would get his wish! Once I found the right cover, he began hooking up on some pretty decent largies. Although some of them left him hanging on weed stocks, he fended better than average bringing several of the bigger ones to the boat. Due to the lack of wind in this area, we decided to spend the last bit of the day back in open water. The run there felt great too! I trolled the areas and managed to get him into a few more walleye and northerns before we called it a day. Back at the ramp, I ran into a ton of people due to all the festivities they had for the holiday. Although a little difficult, it was still better than most busy weekends! We pulled out with ease! Despite the heavy traffic on the water today, Stephane still had a great day landing a pile of different fish and even had some to take home. Who could ask for anything better than fresh fish for dinner tonight!